The following descriptions and examples do not constitute an admission as prior art by virtue of their inclusion within this section.
Sonar has been used to detect waterborne or underwater objects. For example, sonar devices may be used to determine depth and bottom topography, detect fish or other waterborne contacts, or locate wreckage. Devices such as transducer elements, or transducers, have been developed to produce sound at a particular frequency. These transducer elements may transmit the sound into and through the water, and they may also detect echo returns from sound that return to the transducer elements after reflecting off of an object.
Transducer elements may convert an electrical signal into sound energy and, conversely, may convert sound energy, detected via pressure changes, into an electrical signal. In operation, a transducer element may produce a sound pressure signal which emanates in a beam pattern such that a pressure wave is generated, where the pressure wave expands as it moves away from the source. Reflected sound may then return to the transducer element in the form of a sonar return signal, where the sonar return signal may be interpreted as a surface of an object. Such transducer elements may be directed in various directions from surface or submersible vessels to locate other vessels, or the transducer elements may be directed towards the seabed for navigation and/or target location. Display technology may also be utilized in the interpretation of sonar data representing the sonar return signals, such as through liquid crystal displays (LCDs) or other digital displays. In one example, transducer elements may be constructed using piezoelectric material.
To identify objects within water, a sonar system may use one or more transducer elements, where a transmitting element may be used to transmit electrical signals to the transducer elements in order to produce sound energy into and through the water. In one scenario, the sonar system may use a plurality of transmitting elements in order to transmit electrical signals of varying frequencies to the transducer elements. Sonar systems utilizing a plurality of transmitting elements may necessitate increased cost and/or additional space requirements when compared to sonar systems that use one transmitting element.